Thursday, January 14, 2016

Along with some fantastic vintage Dodger memorabilia available for sale at Goldin Auctions (link here and here) there are several notable game-used Dodgers pieces to gawk at.

In honor of Mike Piazza's recent ascension to Baseball's hallowed hall I share pics of an game-used bat of his. (Auction link here) It is dated to 1996 to 1998, so he was either a Dodger, Marlin or a Met when he swung this piece lumber.

Below is a full game-used uniform that was once worn by Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson - complete with dirt. Awesome! (Auction link here) It also comes with a letter from Rickey providing proof that it's the real thing. The auctioneer claims that Henderson wore this specific uniform on August 29, 2003 - the day he stole his very last base. Per the auction description:

On August 29, 2003 Rickey Henderson stood on first base, eyeing that bag
ninety feet away. Rockies pitcher Cory Vance knew what he had in mind,
as did the 30,000 fans in Dodger Stadium. When Vance fired over to first
to pick off Henderson, Rickey exploded towards second and slid in head
first under Helton's tag. It would prove to be the last of Henderson's
record 1,406 career stolen bases, and this is the very uniform he wore
to swipe his last base. The uniform has been matched to stills taken
from MLB broadcast of the August 29, 2003 game and one can clearly see
the turf marks made on the last steal in evidence on the pants and
jersey offered here.

Sure, he could give you heartburn when he got to the mound, but was overall very effective in Blue. In seven Dodger season he earned 64 saves. He was also fantastic during the 1981 World Series against the Yankees. Tom got into two games (1 & 4), pitched five innings, faced 20 batters and gave up zero earned runs. If not for an errant throw by Ron Cey in Game 4 he would have given up no runs at all. Of course, folks still shriek in pain when thinking about Ozzie Smith's impossible home run against him during the 1985 NL Championship Series.

Featured below is a collection of game-used caps and a glove once worn by Niedenfuer. (Auction link here) All the hat are signed by Tom under the brim; including one that says, “Tom Niedenfuer Last Game Hat Traded to Balt. May 22 1987.”

Just another depth signing for an outfield that is deeper than most. In other words, things would have to go really badly for the Schafer to make it to LA. That, or he just blows everyone away during Spring Training.

Via Jon Heyman on twitter, the Dodgers have inked one-time top Braves prospect, turned journeyman outfielder, Jordan Schafer to a minor league deal.

He'll apparently get a nice little bump should he make it to the Major Leagues. You can follow him on twitter here: @JordanSchafer.

Schafer is an 29-years old left-handed speedster who hasn't had a strong enough bat to stick in the Majors. He has slashed an career average of .228/.308/.307/.615 and has stolen 103 bases in 133 attempts over parts of six seasons. Last year, after a fairly successful 2014, he was the Twins Opening Day starting center fielder, but was released in mid-June by the club. The Twins youth movement was in full gear, so Schafer became expendable. In 2014 he slashed a respectable .285/.345/.362/.707.

BTW, he did do something very notable with the bat that involved a home run trot. On April 5, 2009 he became the 99th player in Major League history to hit a home run in his very first at-bat. It was off Brett Myers of the Phillies.

On the negative side, he was also the very first player suspended by Major League Baseball's Department of Investigations in 2008 for HGH (human growth hormone). There was also a little marijuana possession incident while with the Astros in 2011.

On another note, Ken Gurnick at MLB.com tells us that Schafer's potential role with the club might be stranger than you could imagine: "Dodgers to try outfielder Schafer on mound, too." Wha...?

The Dodgers envision Schafer in a hybrid role as a defense-first center
fielder and a left-handed reliever, with the emphasis on pitching. He
was a pitcher in high school but has not taken the mound in a
professional game.

Check out who'll be a part of New Era Cap's upcoming marketing campaign for the 2016 season. Here is Joc Pederson behind the scenes posing with a stylish lid. Pic via New Cap Era on Instagram.

BTW, Pederson has been running around town like a Hollywood model recently. Heck, he even posted a pic on Instagram of himself going through a facial treatment. Although, he doesn't look too happy about it. Check it out on the right.

With just a few ticks remaining on the clock he hooked a 27-yard field goal wide left, and the Vikings were eliminated from the NFL Playoffs. After that mishap, several members of the Los Angeles Dodgers reached out to Blair Walsh to offer their support via social media.

Chris Hatcher and the Dodgers have settled on a new contract; thereby avoiding an arbitration hearing, via anh Jon Heyman tweet:

Huh?... Apparently, a well known cricketer is working on transitioning to Baseball, so he spent some time training with some Dodgers players to get ready. Via Mark Townsend at Big League Stew, "Cricket star Kieran Powell attempting to transition to baseball."

This was my biggest concern when it came to football in LA, so I'm happy to learn that taxpayers will not be footing a large part of the bill for that Inglewood football stadium. Via Lindsay Gibbs at Think Progress, "The Biggest Surprise About The Rams’ Relocation to Los Angeles? It’s Actually A Win For Taxpayers."

Stan Kroenke, the billionaire who became the majority owners of the Rams back in 2010, is privately financing this stadium complex, which is said to cost about $2.66 billion plus the $550 million NFL relocation fee. He will receive about $180 million in sales tax kickbacks, but as deMause put it for VICE Sports, “that’s pretty cheap as stadiums go.”

Google +

Pinterest

Supporters

Blue Heaven In The News

“There’s nothing like wearing a Dodger jersey. There’s nothing like it in sports. I don’t care that I’ve never been anywhere else. I don’t care. There’s nothing like wearing a Dodger jersey.” -- A.J. Ellis